Anyone who knows and trains with me knows that I’m a cyclocross racer trapped in the body of a road racer. There’s something so awesome and wonderful about spending 40 minutes just riding on the rivet and maybe crashing a few times for good measure. I love getting dirty, I love technical and muddy courses, I love the barriers and I love the fans.

I am so lucky to have found a team like cyclocrossracing.com who believes in me enough to give me a ton of support (our team mechanic Kyle was at my car before I even stepped out of it at the race on Monday) and encourage me to do what I love to do, develop the sport.

Monday was Labor Day CX, a bumpy dusty early season race down in Tacoma. I really wanted to sleep in and eat pancakes for breakfast and the 11 AM women’s race really conflicted with that plan so I opted for the Cat 3 men’s race alongside my husband Niels. I think about 30-35 dudes toed the line and like a pro, I started in the back. My start was … okay. Better than it’s been in the past but I didn’t get clipped in right away and had to really shoulder my way through the first couple turns. Like a total dick, I attacked Niels about 3 minutes into the race and made it into the single track in the back of the lead group.

Halfway through the first lap I crashed through the twisty single track and got passed by three or four dudes and managed to gap myself off the lead group. From there, I spent the whole race just trying to catch every carrot in front of me. After the first few laps I was getting really comfortable on my new Blue Norcross SL and FMB tires and was able to not be a total mouse in the corners. I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was placed since I was mostly just trying to race my own race but I still managed to roll across the line in 7th (would have been 6th if not for a wily junior who got me at the line)! Not bad for my first CX race of the year on a totally new ride.

This weekend I’m going to race again with the men and then it’s off to Cross Vegas to get my legs ripped off by a bunch of really really real fast ladies.